commissary
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (2)commissaries
- a retail store that sells equipment and provisions (usually to military personnel)Type of shop, storeKinds slop chest, post exchange, small stores
- a snack bar in a film studioType of snack bar, snack counter
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: LL. commissarius, fr. L. commissus, p. p. of committere to commit, intrust to. See Commit.
1. One to whom is committed some charge, duty, or office, by a superior power; a commissioner.
Great Destiny, the Commissary of God.— John Donne
2. Church An officer of the bishop, who exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction in parts of the diocese at a distance from the residence of the bishop. John Ayliffe
3. Military (a) An officer having charge of a special service; as, the commissary of musters. (b) An officer whose business is to provide food for a body of troops or a military post; — officially called commissary of subsistence. US
Washington wrote to the President of Congress... urging the appointment of a commissary general, a quartermaster general, a commissary of musters, and a commissary of artillery.— Washington Irving
Commissary general, an officer in charge of some special department of army service; as: (a) The officer in charge of the commissariat and transport department, or of the ordnance store department. British (b) The commissary general of subsistence. US — Commissary general of subsistence Mil. U. S., the head of the subsistence department, who has charge of the purchase and issue of provisions for the army.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54